5/9/10

Continuing on last week's article called About Buddhism and this was from Atisha, an 11th century Tibetan Buddhist Master. When we left off, Atisha was saying that the greatest magic is in transmuting passions but let me give you a recap. This is interesting because he's starting with ultimate achievement and working his way down and telling you how you get to the next step, and the next step, and the next step.

He said,

The greatest achievement is selflessness.

The greatest worth is self-mastery.

The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.

The greatest precept is continual awareness.

The greatest medicine is emptiness of everything.

The greatest action is not conforming with the world's ways.

The greatest magic is transmuting passions.

This is where we left off, the idea of transmuting passions. Essentially what we talked about was this transmutation of passions (sometimes called vexing klesas) is wisdom itself because as we begin to transmute it, each moment we're converting that moment to wisdom. We are no longer taking the bait. At that point, our mind is still; it is clear. It realizes that passion can arise and has in the past arisen under these circumstances but that one is trying to rein that in and as we rein it in, we don't succumb to allowing these emotions or passions to arise within us. These cravings, desires, vexations, all of these are referred to as passions then we can rein the mind in and get it under control. That reigning in and getting it under control allows the mind to see clearly. This is wisdom. If we practice this, we will find that as stated by Atisha, the greatest action is not conforming with the world's ways, we don't take the bait.

In this human realm, we are constantly offered these and we often make the wrong decisions moment to moment as to what we're doing in life. As a result of that, our mind becomes clouded. But if we settle in and be quiet, then the mind becomes very stable.

This week, I've been making a great effort to watch my passions, watch what's arising and not take the bait. An interesting thing happens as one really works on it. It is really easy to say "I'm a practitioner" but then, you're not really a practitioner. You listen to the lecture and say it's all good but all of a sudden you realize that you're not really following any of this. So I really made a great effort this week not to become disturbed about things or not let the mind take an emotional bait. It is very interesting because it changed things around me and it changed how I looked at them. It made me more efficient in what I was doing and less harmful in the environment in terms of what was happening.

I had a lot of things that have already happened this week that would have probably gotten me very angry or let people know that their conduct was not the one I expected from them (such as employees or associates of mine). But I chose to watch that and while I was doing that, I found that in not succumbing to these passions, I was able to harmonize and still let people know that their conduct was wrong but come up with constructive solutions to what was there. So it worked and you just have to keep trying to do this in your daily life.

The next one is: The greatest generosity is nonattachment.

Nonattachment and in terms of generosity is very interesting.

Gilbert asked: What do you think this means and how would you apply that in your life?

Student's answer: Practicing non-attachment is the best thing that you can give to somebody.

Another student's answer: It is when you give from the heart to help someone and not expect anything in return.

It is interesting because giving comes in different ways. It's not monetary; it's not limited to time that we give somebody. There are so many different ways in which we can give. We can give tranquility to the moment or provide tranquility to other people. But if we think, "Oh, I am such so high level I can make people very calm or I'm the one that did this" and it messes the whole thing up. But if we don't attached to it, it is just something that we do.

Sometimes I'll help a person and people will thank me and I don't even have a sense or idea why they are thanking me.

And that's when it's probably the best but if you're sitting there and say, "Where is my thank you?", then the "you" is still attached to the moment. The whole idea of this generosity without attaching is that we don't discriminate on who we give this to and we don't discriminate in time and place.

What that does is it breaks down the self because our ego always tells us all that we need to have this and have that in order to establish our own self-worth. We work for something and it's very difficult for us to give something away to another person. But when you do that without any expectation of anything, it is really an incredible thing.

I remember when I was a young boy and I had made a skateboard. Skateboards at that time were really made of skates. That's why they are called skateboard. You break them down and you nail and bolt them in place to a board so it's a skateboard. I really love that skateboard because it worked very well. One of my cousins came over and he loved that skateboard and for some reason, I gave him that skateboard. I don't know why I gave it to him. It was probably my most prized possession but he was so happy. My mom just looked to me and said, "Why did you give him your skateboard?" I couldn't give her an answer. I now look back at that moment, I just remembered it as we're talking and that was a very selfless giving. It doesn't rank up there with things that people have given over the course of history. It's an interesting thing when one gives in this way, when one is beginning to cultivate this kind of idea of selflessness and this universal love and giving. This is the spirit in which we give things; doesn't mean that from that point on I gave away everything.

The next one: The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.

Again, this is the start of this idea of transmuting passion. We have to start first with this peaceful mind. If we have a peaceful mind, we don't want for anything, we don't need anything; we're just comfortable at where we're at in our status. We don't have to prove anything to anyone. Probably the worst thing that could happen say to a Dharma teacher is to think that he knows everything or that he's on a certain level. It is better simply to devote yourself with your heart to teach what you can and understand what you're doing and be responsible with what you're doing. But once you start setting levels and start saying things, then it really botches up the whole thing.

Anything that we do is that way. Whatever skills we have, we should not measurable our skills against other people. Whatever skills other people lack, we should not measure ourselves against them and put our self higher than them simply because we're more capable of doing something more than others.

I remember watching a long time ago an old "Kung Fu" series on TV when I was a kid. I used to be enthralled with that show. It wasn't just for the punching and kicking because it was few and far between. I remember there was one time where there was a young monk. Someone had knocked on the door of the temple and offered to sell him his candles. The person went in and the young monk says, "Why should we buy your candles? Our candles are still superior to yours. But if you need money, I'll give you money." The person got upset and left and the monk was confused as to why he wouldn't accept the money.

It is this idea that we have to be aware of things. It's not always that we have to put ourselves above others or our products or words or whatever it is. We have to really be aware of what we're doing.

The first early days when I was married to my wife who comes from Taiwan, we were talking and discussing something. She was trying to make her point and I was trying to make my point but then she said, "You know, you talk for a living and not only that, but this is not my first language. So there's never going to be a time when I'll be able to compete against you in any discussion." When she said that, I felt really ashamed.

So after that, I became very much aware and it was a very good lesson for me in terms of looking at things clearly. It can help a lot because when we are aware of things like this, it prevents us from making mistakes in the future or try to hold ourselves up to be so high or even do something we have no intention of doing or to take advantage of people; understanding that there are limitations there that people have. We have to be mindful of all of that.

We do that with this peaceful mind that we have. What we really want to do is harmonize all the time. We have to put that in our mind as the mindset of something that we want to do: to be seeking harmony wherever we go and trying to resolve our differences between people, whether we are the mediator or one of the parties through harmony and trying to sort through the problem in a peaceful way rather than in a confrontational or argumentative way.

When we are no longer seeking anything for ourselves, there is a great peace in our heart and that enables us to see things very clearly and it starts to break down these passions that we have.

The next one: The practice of greatest patience is humility.

The idea that we have patience, what do you think patience mean, what kind of definition would you give this?

Students' answers: A form of wisdom; tolerance; unhurried; a longer frame of mind; nonjudgmental.

It is very interesting because sometimes we say that person does not have patience. My son, every time I start making a soup right away he asks when it's going to be done. Later, he'll comeback, "Dad, when is it going to be done?" he didn't have his patience then I start to realize I'm losing my patience with him. But I understand that one because he's hungry and he loves my soup. So you have to have patience through understanding. As you do that, it doesn't bog you down so much but sometimes you get very impatient when the soup's not there. Because people have these expectations, you have to teach as well and pass along this patience.

Patience is a really interesting word because it covers a lot of ground and the cornerstone to it is just humility. You would think, what has patience have to do with humility? For instance, if you're somewhere talking to somebody and they have let's say a very slow mind, you can lose your patience very quickly with people like that. Sometimes I have clients and often I tell them their advice and they will say they understand. Then, they will ask the same question again.

It is difficult to have patience under those circumstances but you have to go through that and try to work in a way where you can harmonize with people and exhibit this patience. But the patience is not easy for us because of our ego. We start measuring things like the opposite of what Sentha was saying (that we start thinking long range), we start thinking very short range about our patience.

I had a student who wanted to be successful. I told the student that in order to be successful, you have to do certain things: you have to be mindful of many different aspects of your own life and your own character, personality and causes and conditions. That particular student quit being my student and went over to this teacher that teaches manifesting. Manifesting is when you put things in your mind, it will come true. But manifesting is just a sliver of the pie and it lacks wisdom and is totally ignorant of causes and conditions, karmic forces and different things that were there. It was so easy to put things in your mind that you can fly but you can't do that. We have to use our wisdom. She lacked the patience to stay with the practice and as a result of losing that patience; she went off looking somewhere else. Later on, she did come back to talk to me. She said, "Why isn't it working? I said, "Because you are missing these points." She said. "I understand." And she is still trying to manifest. One day I am hoping that she will see the whole point and develop the patience to do that.

Humility as part of patience is when we think, "I should be the greatest of this but it hasn't happened." Humility is not clinging on to anything. It is not clinging to any result of what we are going to do. The records of Chan Buddhism in China have a long history of many masters who practiced for years upon years. Whereas we expect that if we cross our legs that right away we can obtain some clear realization of mind. We should not be so arrogant about this but be humble to think that will happen. It can happen at a flash of a moment but causes and conditions have to be there.

And the conditions are NO SELF. We can never get there as long as we lacked humility. When we have humility, we can bring ourselves down a couple of rungs on the ladder or completely remove the ladder. All that matter is just our practice. Our practice will protect us. But we think that our ego protects us which is upside down and as a result, we create a bigger and bigger ego. Once we start having a genuine humility for the things that we encounter in our lives, we encounter less resistance, less passions and less confrontations because as you practice in this way, you will do well in the practice.

Master Sheng Yen used to say, "I am little, you are large; you have everything, I have nothing; you are right and I am wrong." If we practice this in our lives, it makes life a lot easier. We don't have to win all arguments, don't have to have this and that, we don't have to be the biggest. It is very simple but we choose passion over wisdom and as a result, we make our lives very complicated.

The next one: The greatest effort is not concerned with results.

As I often mention, Master Sheng Yen used to refer to it as if you are climbing up a fog-shrouded mountain. As you are climbing, you pay no heed to how far you've come or how far it is to the top of the mountain. You are simply clearly aware that you are taking one step after another. You are moving up the mountain and you're aware of that moment to moment. That's all you need to do.

If we start thinking about results, we mess things up. I can't stress that enough because when we sit to meditate, it is really easy once we get to a point where we think we are very quiet, "Wow this is really very quiet." Once we start this conceptual thinking, we are no longer in a quiet state. We are fooling ourselves as if we are tiptoeing around the room whispering, "It is very, very quiet in here… There is no thought happening…" So you are sitting there doing meditation thinking you have quieted the mind but actually you are very loud and you don't even hear yourself.

And you take this cogitation of the mind (this thought processes) to be us. You are thinking in this cogitation of the mind that you are getting closer and closer and closer. But in actuality, you have to jettison the self and this is difficult. In our practice, we have to recognize the self. Many masters have said, "You must first recognize the self to do away with the self." Otherwise, how do you know who the quarry is? Who are you hunting? You don't even know. You are hunting and you don't even realize that what is hunting is the quarry.

So unless you shoot yourself in the behind which most people are reluctant to do, you are never going to get there that way. The only way you can get there simply by settling the mind. As you begin to settle, on its own accord and nature, the illusory self will begin to diminish. We don't have to try to chase it out of mind. If we try to chase it out of mind, it won't work. But if we are just quiet and see what is arising moment to moment, that seeing what is arising is your True Nature. It is your awareness of the mind and we need not push it through the self to get there.

This is the practice. We settle the mind, we are not attaching to anything, we are not thinking about results. It doesn't mean that we don't put our heart on the results. We talked about the Four Great Vows, we say the Four Great Vows. Those are our compass: I vow to deliver enumerable sentient beings, to cutoff endless vexations, to master limitless approaches to Dharma and to attain supreme Buddhahood. We make those vows; we know those vows are there. Make those vows sincere and then just practice.

But if we constantly try to measure how far we've walked, it is really bad. When we were kids and it is getting close to Christmas, don't we count the days? Don't the days get longer and longer and we became more and more impatient? And maybe we weren't such good kids. A week before Christmas, we even thought about opening the presents. It is very difficult for us to be good when we have this expecting mind. So when we are sitting and we really want to get somewhere, it becomes hard.

During the retreats, many people succumb to that. They really want to achieve something. But they have the mind of grasping instead of the mind of practicing. There is a tremendous difference between the grasping mind and the mind that is just practicing. The mind that is just practicing has nothing to do with the self; the mind of grasping has everything to do with the self. You could be sitting there and sitting and then you are going, "I am very quiet, very quiet; I am quieter than the guy sitting next to me; I sat longer than anybody here."

This is not the practice. We have to be honest with ourselves in terms of how we practice. Truly practicing the method is not hard at all. I tell you that because I really encourage you to practice properly. If you practice properly, even in a half an hour, your mind can really become very quiet and not moving at all. In 30 seconds, 10 seconds, 5 seconds, you can get there. The trick is just to keep it going and extend out that time. But you need to know this is not the mind of grasping, this is not the mind of attainment. When you're sitting there and start saying, "I'm not very quiet," you just have to push through and stay with the method.

Have no thought; cling to no thought. Having no thought means clinging to no thought. As the thoughts arise, the mind just simply releases them, releases, releases, releases. When a thought arises in mind, you let go and go back to the method. Later on the mind becomes illuminated. As it becomes illuminated, it becomes aware of what is arising in mind. It is not moving at all. It is perfectly aware of what's arising in mind but it doesn't rush out to meet it. It doesn't try to exclude it from mind. It is just simply stable realizing that spurious thoughts will arise in mind in accordance with causes and conditions. They come up because of what you've been thinking but you know that, so you let it go. It has nothing to do with the method that you are doing. As you become adept at holding to the method, you become adept to keeping the right concentration in your daily life. That is extremely important that you want to be able to concentrate.

Concentration here means that one is aware of what is arising in mind. We are aware moment to moment. But it is difficult for us to do that because of causes and conditions. We have developed this habit of processing everything through this cogitating mind – this ego. It needs to be consulted about everything. For example, you drink water; "this water is too cold, too hot, too stale, this water is just tap water, this is not Perrier, I love this water, don't love that water, etc…" Has nothing to do with anything, yet we are constantly giving in to this habitual impressions in the mind.

But when we no longer have these impressions in the mind, when we no longer connect to them, then things are fine. Whatever we eat is fine. When we an eat ice cream cone, it is sweet. When we eat rice, it tastes like rice. Curry tastes like curry. You are clear about it. But one is not having a mind of craving. Once we have a mind of craving, we mess everything up. Because then when the meal is not so good, then we think, "I am suffering and this is really bad."

Okay, the next one: The greatest meditation is in the mind that lets go.

The greatest meditation is in the mind that lets go but what are we letting go, what are we picking up and putting down? We're letting go of mental impressions. See the mind as like mental teflon – nothing sticks to it. But this mental teflon is mirror-like; everything is reflected in it. As everything is reflected in it, it is perfectly clear as to how things are going.

I recently ran into a video either on U-Tube or something. It was talking about science and God. It really isn't about God; it explained how the mind works. It is a very wonderful view point in Quantum Mechanics. They were talking about hollowgrams. They said that in a hollowgram, each bit of the hollowgram has a perfect image of the rest of the hollowgram in it. I don't know how a hollowgram works scientifically, but the scientists were saying that each little particle in that hollowgram is a perfect reflection of everything else that's there. He also said that that perfect reflection in the hollowgram is necessary in order for the hollowgram to work, otherwise it could not work.

This is interesting because this is the way mind is – everything is a reflection of everything else. But you might say, "No, this is the left hand and this is the right hand and these things don't reflect each other." But you have to go beyond mental constructs and appearances in order to see the inherent nature of all mental impressions and the workings of the mind. As we begin to see that, we begin to see that all these things are all connected. They all have these fundamental purposes and qualities to them of impermanence, of emptiness.

And as we look at this emptiness, it is a brilliant example. The hollowgram is empty because it is not real; all the particles are exactly the same. It is impermanent; very incredible. As we look at things in this way, we begin to let go of appearances. W are not attaching to appearances.

But it is very difficult for us to do that. How does it work in real life? I'll use an example: At the end of a retreat, there was an old man there and he told Master Sheng Yen, "I hope I die before you." Shifu said, "Why is that?" The man said because if you die first, I shall miss you." Shifu nodded his head, lovingly looked at him and said, "If you die first, I shall not miss you."

Some people might give a nervous laughter to that but that was very profound wisdom. It is in this way. It is an illusion and when we begin to see the world as an illusion, we learn to let go of it. Doesn't mean we cannot function in it, matter of fact, we can function perfectly within the world using this skin-bag. Traversing through what once was an illusion now turns into deep Prajnaparamita – deep wisdom. But it is through this letting go that this wisdom manifests. Through this letting go that function becomes self-evident; without there being any self there. It just is naturally occurring to the point where finally there is no function. It just is the apparent nature of things.

Reading the last one: The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Everything we talked about tonight just segways into this: the greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances. This whole process of letting go and talking about the ones before it, all of a sudden we get to the greatest wisdom of seeing through appearances. Now we reverse it and we start from the very beginning and see through the appearances and end there seeing through appearances. (Writer's comment: Everything Atisha taught us are nothing but appearances. He ends it by telling us to see through all these appearances; nothing to hold on to). We become aware of how this world works. We become aware of letting go of the passions, letting go of the self and having this deep humility. All these are building blocks of our practice. They are not used in a sense to attain the next level because there is no level. They are just there to remind us of our practice.

The practice itself is what comes out of all this. The knowledge of everything I said today is worthless, absolutely worthless. Even if sometimes it may sound good, it is not helpful. The only thing that's helpful is the practice itself. If you can't see it this way then the practice of Chan is of something that is irrelevant to you. But what Chan wants to do is make you irrelevant to mind. You still have a body, mind still functioning yet self is not there.

Any question about that?

Student asked: Is it a form of emptiness?

Gilbert's answer: I would say an emptiness of form rather than a form of emptiness. There are no different forms of emptiness. We just see through the emptiness of form, sensation, perception, volition and consciousness. We become aware that we are not attaching to any of these appearances (as stated in the Diamond Sutra). Don't cling to anything, don't attach to appearances, everything is transitory. Essentially, this non-clinging is a self-evident emptiness. When we try to describe emptiness in words, it becomes very, very difficult. People who describe it this way understand that these are the expedient means and not really the truth of the matter. But we still use words to exhort people to practice.

Does this give you any consternation or concern about the practice or does it clarify it?